Customer experience or CX has emerged as a vital business strategy for all types of organizations including associations Adrienne Bryant CAE account executive at IntrinXec Management Inc explains what associations can do to keep the member point of view in mind Where should associations focus first A great place to start would be your website In most cases its the first touchpoint a prospective member has with your organization Ask yourself How easy is it for users to find simple information Can they easily join or register for an event Look at the website through the users eyes A successful strategy that many organizations take is engaging a user experience UX expert to assess a websites ease of use What skills do staff need to do this well To become a CX leader you need basic problem-solving and relationship-building skills Youll also want to learn basic project management principles because CX is all about managing people and time Design thinking and customer co-creation principles are integral to the journey-mapping process youll use to understand the emotions and challenges that your customers face as they interact with you Finally tap into soft skills like the ability to influence change without direct management authority What are the key principles of customer experience A customer experience strategy is an outside-in business focus on what the external customer sees reads hears and experiences when they interact with your organization as well as any touches a customer feels through staff interactions The Customer Experience Professionals Association defines six core competencies for CX professionals While they are all important I believe three of them offer the best introduction customer experience strategy customer-centric culture and experience design improvement and innovation